NAVY NEWS, MARCH 2008 7
Mersey beat
for Bulwark
AMPHIBIOUS fl agship HMS
Bulwark spent four days in
EEnjoying a taste of homenjoying a taste of home
Liverpool – the newly-crowned
European City of Culture – as she
headed north for Norway. EVERYONE knows that in the provided the ‘enemy’ in the skies while Their ship, meanwhile, steamed to San islands, after all) threatened to curtail
The assault ship berthed in the
Navy there’s war on Thursday.
new islands’ patrol ship HMS Clyde Carlos Water, circling over the wreck of Nottingham’s visit, making it increasingly
shadow of the Liver Building in
Even in the Falklands.
served as Nottingham’s replenishment HMS Antelope where CPO Sid Hannant, diffi cult for the ‘liberty boats’ carrying
a dock normally used by cruise
liners.
Yes, there’s no escaping those nice
at sea partner – a task normally fulfi lled a veteran of the confl ict, cast a wreath sailors from ship to shore and back
Bulwark hosted various groups
chaps and chapesses from the Flag
in the UK by an RFA vessel. into the water, and the son of one of the again.
Once the FOSTies departed satisfi ed frigate’s crew read a tribute to the ship In the end the boats called it a day,
and organisations during her
Offi cer Sea Training, even when you’re
that the Nottingham team were on the and her men. leaving several sailors stuck in Stanley.
stop on the Mersey: Sea Cadets,
8,000 miles from home.
top of their game, the ship headed for Then it was on to Stanley – well, Thankfully, they enjoyed the hospitality
schools, Royal Naval Association
Eighteen FOSTies dropped in on HMS
Stanley. actually, a buoy at Port William. Boats of the town’s guest houses while the
shipmates, Mersey Naval and
Nottingham to offer some top-up training
Well, not the entire ship. A small group ferried the ship’s company ashore; their winds calmed suffi ciently overnight for
Maritime Society and World Ship
to the destroyer.
decided upon a week’s adventurous visit coincided with a number of cruise the boats to carry them home to their
Society. Her sailors also played
The team from Devonport spent
training, re-tracing the steps of liners in port, so Stanley found itself destroyer in the morning.
several sporting fi xtures against
a week aboard the Type 42, running 2 Para in the 1982 confl ict, occupied by scores of non- Nottingham’s time in the South
Liverpool teams.
almost identical exercises to those walking the 80-or-so miles natives. Atlantic is drawing to a close; her six-
The ship is leading the staged typically off Plymouth. from Goose Green to the Forty-knot winds (it month deployment ends in April when
maritime side of winter war RAF Tornadoes not FRADU Hawks islands’ capital. was high summer in the she returns to Portsmouth.
games in Norway, Armatura
Borealis, with Amphibious Task
Group commander Cdre Peter
Hudson and his staff directing
operations from the ship’s
impressive command suite.
Three RN capital ships are
involved in the Norwegian
exercise: Bulwark is joined by her
sister Albion, plus commando/
helicopter carrier HMS Ark
Royal. Also committed to the
fjords for two months are RFA
landing support ship Mounts Bay
and frigate HMS Cornwall.
The aim is to test the ability
of men and machines to fight in
the most demanding environment
known to man.
3 Commando Brigade will be
ferried to the fjords before being
landed alongside comrades from
Norway and the Netherlands.
Albion will be used by
Major General Garry Robison,
Commandant General of the
Royal Marines, and his staff to
oversee the maritime side of the
exercise.
Bulwark’s sailors have
been training hard to prepare
● Night falls on Nottingham... The destroyer berthed at Mare Harbour on a
themselves for operating in the
glorious South Atlantic evening Picture: WO2 Lowe, HMS Nottingham
demanding Arctic environment
and Capt Jeremy Blunden is
convinced his men and women
will rise to the occasion.
“The Arctic weather we will
experience in Norway will be Lions led by
extremely demanding, but we
have all the necessary equipment
we need and all the sailors
and Royal Marines are looking
forward to the challenge,” he Dolphins
added.
His ship will be back in
Liverpool later this year to take
DOLPHINS are not unusual insight into the world of American
part in the city’s Battle of the
sights for men and women on Her football.
Atlantic commemorations.
Majesty’s Ships. For each position on the
Cornwall, meanwhile, enjoyed
Lions less so, however. cheerleader team, the Dolphins
five days of Irish hospitality,
The sailors of HMS Manchester receive 300 applicants. The wage
berthing at Belfast’s Pollock
posed with both in the middle of isn’t enough to support the leaders
Dock.
the Gulf, but then we’re talking full time, so all have second jobs –
The ship hosted a careers’
about Miami Dolphins and the and they must fi ght for their places
forum for local headteachers
Detroit Lions. again at the end of each season.
and careers officers, as well as
American footballer Stanley Stanley is the son of a
students, schoolchildren and
Wilson – a cornerback (a defensive professional footballer and has
Northern Ireland VIPs.
player for those not au fait with been in the Lions for the past
Cornwall’s sailors toured
gridiron) with the Detroit Lions three seasons after being drafted
Carrickfergus Castle and the
– and cheerleaders Michelle from college. He was particularly
Giant’s Causeway, while more
Hernandez and Lacie Randall, who impressed by the Busy Bee’s
strenuous exercise lay in store for
spur on the Dolphins, dropped in cuisine (he asked for seconds at
Cornwall’s rugby and football
on the British destroyer during a every sitting).
sides who clashed with RAF
morale-raising trip to the USS All three praised the efforts
Aldergrove.
Harry S Truman carrier group. by Manchester to support
The Busy Bee has the rare peacekeeping in the region.
honour of protecting the “The coalition’s support of
Feeling the
American fl at-top on her Middle better governments in the region is
East deployment – and that means clearly good news, and the support
enjoying hosting some of the of our boys on the ground by the
pinch...
visitors who’ve been dropping in maritime units is essential,” said
on the US warships. Lacie (Blimey, I was expecting
The football trio spent a day a dream of world peace – Ed), a
THE Navy is short of fast jet aboard Manchester which was graduate in international affairs
pilots, Merlin helicopter crews, enduring some rather rough Gulf specialising in the Middle and near
able seamen, leading hands and weather at the time. East (Ah, that explains it – Ed).
divers. Luckily, they escaped some Stanley added: “It’s reassuring
Armed Forces Minister Bob of the lumps and bumps on the to know that you guys are out
Ainsworth outlined several ‘pinch ocean thanks to a ride in Sting, there, defending and protecting
points’ – branches lacking key Manchester’s Lynx. our freedom.”
trained personnel. The three were given a The visit over, the three
There are 15 areas of concern comprehensive tour of the Type Americans returned to the Truman
for the RN, spread across the 42… and in turn offered a little courtesy of Sting.
entire spectrum of Senior Service
activities.
Among those 15 ‘pinch points’
are Harrier pilots and instructors,
A bowl for Sir Bed
whose posts are half filled; the
RN is also short of a third of its THE fi nal act in the long and fruitful life of landing support ship RFA
AB(Divers) and leading hand Sir Bedivere was a happy one.
warfare ratings. As the venerable auxiliary returned to Marchwood in Southampton
Almost half the Merlin Water for the final time, she received the Wedgwood Bowl.
observer positions are vacant and, It is presented each year to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel which has
across the board, four out of ten done the most to foster international relations or offer humanitarian
able bodied seamen billets need aid.
filling. It is for the former that Sir Bedivere is honoured; she has served as
One of the healthier areas is a floating forward operating base for the Iraqi Navy in the northern
the Royal Marines. Nine out Gulf, dramatically improving the training opportunities available to the
of ten other ranks drafts in the fledgling navy and, in the words of her citation, making “a significant
Corps was filled at the end of and sustained contribution to international relations”.
2007 according to the figures Sir Bedivere has now retired; her place in the Gulf has been taken by
given by Mr Ainsworth. her successor RFA Cardigan Bay.
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